Week 18
Dear Parents and Students,
The students got a chance to use the IPads this week! The motivation and excitement was at an all time high (it’s hard to compete with technology). They got to explore them freely for a half hour and after that they had as assignment to create a comic strip in partners using the camera and text. The class got to play detectives in science class where they tried to determine what ingredients were in the ‘hemliga blandningen’ of dirt. They looked at their sample with a magnifying glass, touched it, wet it, tried to roll it into a ball, smeared it and shook it with water in a test tube. After conducting all of the experiments they tried to decide what was in the secret mix and back up their predictions with reasons. It was a challenge to both carry-out the fun experiments and at the same time record their results as they went along.
There is a lot going on next week. On Monday, as a kick-off to our stone age unit, the whole second grade will take a trip to Judarskogens naturreservat and live a stone age life! There will be different stations and activities. We will be eating lunch there, so each child will need to bring a packed lunch. For the rest of the week, students will work in mixed groups with 2AB and learn about the stone age. Patrick, Malin, Margareta and I will each teach about a different theme, so all of the kids will get a lesson from each of us!
On Thursday we will go to Scandia Bio on Drottningaten to see a movie called ‘My Adventures’. You can learn more about it here.
http://www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/junior/program_2012/my_adventures_by_v_swchwrm/
We will eat lunch at school earlier that day.
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
Next Week - V. 19
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Field Trip to Judarskogens naturreservat
*Bring a Packed Lunch!
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Fritids Dagen!
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Field trip to see a movie
‘My Adventures’
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News and Reminders:
· No school or fritids on Monday, May 14
· No school or fritids on Thursday, May 17
· Check out Johannes Skolans Rio facebook page at www.facebook.com/Rio20JohannesSkolaProject
Homework:
· Reading Log
· Spelling
· Math word problems
Skill Builder:
Have a few extra minutes on the way home or while waiting for dinner? Try these skill builders!
· Homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings sea/see) try to come up with different homophones with your child and use them in a sentence, or draw a picture of the two homophones to show the different meanings. Have your child act out two different homophones and try to guess which ones.
Here is a link with many homophones . . .
http://schools.look4.net.nz/english/homophones
Week 16
Dear Parents and Students,
It was great to come back together after Påsk Lov, everyone seemed refreshed and ready to get back to work!
We checked out our worms on Monday and saw that most of the lettuce, radish greens and carrots we placed in their bags were gone! Students observed the bags and we discussed what had happened to the food. We gave the worms more food and will continue to observe them. On Friday we continued our study of sand, clay, and humus (ingredients in dirt). Students conducted a smear test and a shake test in order to better understand how these materials behave.The class is almost finished with the final draft of their stories. Along with this they are each designing a beautiful cover. We discussed the apostrophe this week. We went over both contractions and possessives.
We began a multiplication unit this week. We discussed how multiplication is repeated addition. We practiced skip counting by 2, 5, and 10. The worksheets students worked on showed the relationship between addition and multiplication. Many students began to see why multiplication is much more simple than repeated addition!
On Wednesday Freja and Alex shared a website they found called ‘Free Rice’ (see the link below). It is an excellent site to practice English, math, geography etc. . . skills and at the same time, every correct answer donates rice to people who are hungry. Julian shared a website and story about Caine’s Arcade, a nine-year-old boy in L.A. who built an arcade out of cardboard. I included the link below if you want to check it out, it was a very inspiring story!
I have revised the spelling homework and it was sent home with students today, I hope it is a bit clearer. The kids no longer need to bring the word list back and forth between home and school. This week’s words are: found, could, school, they’ve and won’t. There is also a multiplication worksheet.
We celebrated reading 50 ‘just-Right’ books as a class today with an ice cream party! Well-done 2E. . . keep it up!
Please read and fill-out the attached form about Klämdagar for fritids!
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
Next Week - V. 17
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Hand in Klämdagar paper!
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APT fritids closes at 16:00
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News and Reminders:
· http://cainesarcade.com/
Homework:
· Reading Log
· Spelling
· Multiplication Worksheet
Skill Builder:
Have a few extra minutes in the car or while waiting for dinner? Try these skill builders!
· Skip counting is an excellent activity to begin to practice multiplication. Pick a number and have your child skip count aloud, do it together, or take turns (3, 6, 9, 12, 15 etc. . . )! It is easiest to start with 2, 5, 10, but try a challenge with 3, 6, 7, 8 or 9!
· Contractions. Ask your child what the contraction is for ‘he is’ (he’s) or ‘we will’ (we’ll) etc. . . Try the reverse by asking what two words the contraction ‘I’ve’ stands for (I have).
Week 13
Dear Parents and Students,
This week students predicted what sorts of creatures they would find in the compost and then looked through it, to see what sorts of things were actually in there (there were worms, spiders, centipedes. . . lots of life!). On Friday we made compost bags with our mail-order worms! The kids each made a bag with at least two slimy worms, soil and some lettuce/carrots. We will watch them over the next few weeks to see what happens. We also have a class compost with worms and another compost with no worms, in order to observe the differences.
In English students began to revise their stories (add details, change around text, delete unnecessary sentences etc. . ) using a green pencil. They began to edit their texts for spelling, grammar and punctuation using a blue pencil. We also went over the expectations for peer editing (‘peer’ became a vocabulary word) that when reading each other’s texts we want to start with compliments and then give some helpful suggestions. You can find the LPP for this writing project attached to this email.
This week in ‘Reading Action Groups’ Andy was not able to come to the class. Instead, I managed to meet with every group and gave them each a short nonfiction text to read. The titles of the texts are: Amelia Earhart, Whales, You Stink!, and I’d Like to Be. Ask your child which book they read and perhaps some interesting facts they learned.
Have a great weekend!
Almost everyone handed in homework this week! There was some confusion over the spelling work (it takes a while for these sort of routines to smooth out. . . trust me it has taken A LOT of explaining). For now, students will have five words which they will study at home and complete six different activities (4 mandatory and 2 they can choose). There will be a test on Friday. They should bring back their word lists every week. This week the spelling test will be on Thursday.
Nancy
Next Week - V. 14
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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English homework due!
spelling test
Students can leave from 11:00, school closes at 16:00
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Happy Easter!
Have a great vacation!
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News and Reminders:
News and Reminders:
· Earth Hour is March 31 at 20:30 http://www.wwf.se/vrt-arbete/klimat/earth-hour/1415461-earth-hour-2012
(thanks for the reminder Sara!)
(Thanks again, Johanna!)
In maths this week we began our geometry unit. We discussed the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. We learned the names of both 2D and 3D shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, cube, rectangular prism, cone, pyramid, sphere). We began discussing some of the different properties of shapes (number of even sides, parallel sides, number of corners, and faces). Students were introduced to the prefixes bi, tri, quad, penta, hexa, hepta, and octa. Mathematical vocabulary is used and repeated in lessons along with visual reminders in order to help build vocabulary. We also learned about right angles, or square angles. These ideas will be repeated in the homework.
My schedule has now been rearranged so I will have more time in 2e. On Thursdays Margareta and I will both be with the class from 10:00 to 11:00. This week we split the class and worked on addition, subtraction and place value in our respective groups.
In English this week we began learning about narrative story elements (setting, characters, problem and solution). I read aloud a wonderful story called Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming. We discussed the story elements mentioned above with regard to the story and pointed out examples of excellent descriptive writing.
In art the students created wonderful geometric paintings. The drew overlapping 2D shapes (using a straight edge and circle stencils) and used black line markers and paint to outline and color them in. They look fantastic!
On Friday afternoon Stella gave a wonderful presentation about her trip to Australia. She shared photos and gave everyone a little koala bear souvenir. Thanks Stella!
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
News and Reminders
· A reminder that we are going skating on Monday. Students need to bring a packed lunch, warm clothes, skates and a helmet. Please be sure that the skates are not brought in a plastic bag because the bags end up breaking and causing problems.
· On Tuesday February, 7th there is a parental meeting from 6-8. We will break the parents up into two groups. The groups are based on if your child is in the turtle or dragon group. If you are not sure which group your child is in, please ask them! We will begin with the turtle group up in the classroom, and the dragons will go to fritids, after an hour we will switch.
· Reminder that English/maths homework is handed out on Fridays and due the following Friday (see the blog for homework assignments). Some students do not have a homework folder. They should have some sort of a folder to bring their papers to and from school.
· In case you don’t have the blog website, here it is!
Hej alla elever och föräldrar i 2E.
I svenska har vi arbetat en hel del med att ta muntliga instruktioner och också med att ge enkla instruktioner själva. Det har varit på halvklasstimmarna.
På måndag åker vi, som bekant är, skridskor på Östermalms idrottsplats. Nancy ger er all information om detta. När vi kommer tillbaka från skridskoåkningen ska alla eleverna i 2E
· Stoppa ned ett läxpapper med frågor till vår nya gemensamma läsebok ”Mera om Moa och Mille”.
Nästa tisdag (Lärarna har enligt kalendariet en studiedag den 13:e februari) 14/2 ska svaren lämnas in i Margareta läx-box.
· Eleverna ska dessutom öva på att läsa högt, de sidor som ges i läxa. I skolan kommer jag låta 11-12 elever läsa högt under en svensklektion. Veckan därpå får de resterande eleverna läsa högt. Det blir alltså förberedd högläsning.
Trevlig helg önskar jag er.
Margareta
Week 4
It was great to get a chance to talk to so many of you this week during the development talks. I have a much better sense of each of your children after getting the chance to sit down and talk with you.
On Monday I was away for professional development. I got the opportunity to take part in an NTA science course. In the coming weeks the class will begin a very exciting (and possibly disgusting) unit on soil. I have a favor to ask! I need a bucket of compost in order to begin the unit. If any of you have access to compost, and would be willing to dig up a bucket for the class. . . please email me as soon as possible!
In English this week we worked with a dictation and practiced our editing skills in an activity called ‘daily edit’. After we correct the dictation together, we read through the dictation again, but this time we make a sound and a body movement for various punctuation marks. You can check to see if your child is able to show you the movement and sound we made for a capital letter, a full-stop, and a question mark. They may even be able to explain why we chose that particular sound and movement to represent that punctuation mark. This type of kinesthetic activity gives children an opportunity to use their bodies to make a muscle memory of the subject being taught.
In maths the students continued practicing solving word problems. We practiced how to show one’s thinking as well as the rule that in maths when a question is asked in words, you must answer in words. We will concentrate on geometry next week.
In art the students practiced drawing spheres. We discussed the terms shading, shadow, value, 2D and 3D. We used regular drawing pencils and drawing paper. We made a scale to show different values that can be made using a pencil and then created various sized spheres.
On Friday afternoon we had a special visit from Emelie! She brought some special cakes, cookies, and a calendar from Barcelona to share with the class. She told the class a bit about her school in Barcelona. The class seemed very happy to see her again!
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
News
· Reminder that English homework is handed out on Fridays and due the following Friday (see the blog for homework assignments). Some students do not have a homework folder. They should have some sort of a folder to bring their papers home.
· I have asked students to bring in objects we can use to trace circular shapes (i.e., jars, covers, buttons) as we will use them in our upcoming unit in geometry.
Hallå!
Den här veckan är det inte mycket som gått enligt schemat på grund av utvecklingssamtal i 2E under tisdagen och torsdagen. Även i klass 3E har det varit samtal och det har påverkat undervisningen för oss.
Men det har varit trevligt och värdefullt att träffa alla föräldrar tillsammans med varje elev. Det är ju viktigt att stämma av målen för alla ämnen och höra hur alla tycker och tänker. Inte minst viktigt är ju att checka av hur alla mår och trivs. Nancy och jag ser fram emot att träffa er som hade förhinder denna vecka, så snart som möjligt.
Nu kommer läxorna i svenska varje måndag och ska lämnas in senast varje fredag. Jag hoppas att vi alla ska få in den rutinen. Läxorna jag har fått in vecka 3 och vecka 4 har varit väl utförda. På måndag 30 jan. kommer alltså nästa läxa i svenska.
Trevlig helg!
Margareta
Week 3
Hello Parents!
I finally have an email address nancy.skehan@stockholm.se ! It was lovely to get the chance to talk with many of you this morning, I look forward to seeing you next week at the development talks. As Margareta mentioned, we had a wonderful field trip on Monday to Kulturens Hus. The kids were extremely well-behaved on the way there and on the way home. I felt very comfortable taking them out into the city.
In English we wrote thank you notes to Kulturens Hus. We also finished our descriptive paragraphs. Students imagined what they will be like in 20 years and wrote about it in their journals. Let me tell you they are going to be busy! For example. . .’I am going to be a basketball playing fireman in New York who also is a famous singer.’ I began reading ‘Because of Winn Dixie’ by Kate Di Camillo to the class and they seem to really be enjoying it.
In maths this week we worked with more logic problems and learned how to solve KenKen puzzles (which are similar to Suduko). The students need to think about different combinations of the numbers 1-4 using, in our case, addition and subtraction.
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
News
· Homework for this week in English is to read as usual and fill out the reading log. We will begin with other homework assignments next week.
· Development talks will be held on Tuesday, January 24th and Thursday, January 26th.
· I have asked students to bring in objects we can use to trace circular shapes (i.e., jars, covers, buttons) as we will use them in our upcoming unit in geometry.
Hej!
Nu har vi kommit igång ordentligt. Vi arbetar mycket med att etablera och befästa bra rutiner. Från och med imorgon kommer det att finnas två läxinlämningslådor längst bak i klassrummet.
Jag har en röd låda för läxan i och på svenska.
Nancy har en blå låda för läxor i engelska och på engelska.
Eleverna har fått en röd pappmapp att transportera den svenska läxan i. Jag vill att eleverna tar ut läxpappren ur mappen innan jag får läxan. Mappen får de förvara i sin låda, när den inte är i skolväskan eller hemma.
I tisdags var vi på konsert till Kulturens Hus på Mariebergsgatan. För ”årskurs två”-elever hade kulturskolans lärare satt upp en musikal, där två hundar reste ut i rymden, för att samla ihop toner till en flöjt och kanske hitta en korv till den ena hunden. Eleverna kunde sjunga med och inbjöds också till att deltaga i häftiga danser. Engagemanget från eleverna var stort och det var riktigt lyckat. Eleverna har fått skriva och rita till lärarna på kulturskolans som tack för showen. 2E gör oerhört fina arbeten i bild!
Apropå bild, har det varit en sorts julgranplundring i matsalen. Jag har tagit ner alla fina julgranar klassen dekorerat med där. Nu ritar vi fina och kul fåglar, som ska sitta på en ”telefontråd”. Ni får komma och titta om ett par veckor.
Vi har börjat arbeta litet med geometri, som ni kanske förstod av läxan de fick av mig. Vi arbetar grundligt eftersom geometri är nytt för de flesta eleverna. Vi ritar, definierar egenskaper hos de olika geometriska formerna och begreppen samt lär oss benämningarna på bägge språken. (Jag fick använda mig av ”Google Translate”, för jag kom inte på alla de engelska glosorna. Bra hjälpmedel!)
Trevlig helg!
Margareta
Week 40
This week we have been working a lot with our "Our School in Siberia" Unit. We have formulated questions for the topics that we are writing about, conducted interviews, and began to write our broshure texts based on this information. The most difficult part of this process was writing focused questions that ONLY had to do with the topic. It took some time, but it was time well spent, since the texts are turning out to be quite impressive. In Math, we have finished off our "Swedish time" unit. Today we had a test to check our knowledge. In our "Maps" Unit, we looked at and discussed Atlases. This was fun. We even applied our Math knowledge of grids and coordinates, from previous weeks, to find different cities on Maps. Afterwards, all the children wanted Atlases!
We finished off the Developmental Meetings. It was very helpful to everyone to refresh our memories from last term!
The whole school will be having a Sustainable Development Carnival to celebrate the Rio +20 Conference. The School is currently seeking permission from the police to block off streets in the area that we can parade down. 2abe will have Climate Change as our theme (this is one of the area that will be taken up in Rio). We have decided to dress up as the seasons. That means that next week we will decide who is what season and make costumes to visualize this. The children will be asked to dress in a particular color scheme for the day of the Carnival (October 11, 12:30). We will compliment this with costume details that we will make in school. All of our costumes will of course be made of recycled materials...so if you have any of the following items at home, please bring them in.
Week 39
This week we have continued to work on the unit "Our School in Siberia". We fomulated questions that we will use to ask people about the respective topic that each group chose last week. The information we gather will be used in our Johannes School broshures. In Math we continued to work with Mental Math strategies. We also finished sewing our pencil cases.
A new unit called Living Within Our GREEN Means was introduced. We talked about the environment, nature, and documented our thoughts. We also began creating our recyled homework folders. Hopefully we can finish these within the next two weeks.
Today (Friday), the whole school practiced evacuating to Immanuelskyrka. It was a beautiful day, and the walk back and forth was refreshing.
A heads-up (no pun intended)...Lice is going around the second grade so please check heads.
Reminders for week 39:
Monday-Gym
Tuesday-Developmental Meetings
Friday-Gym
Week 38
Welcome to 2e's class blog!
Every week we will post weekly updates and reminders on this page.
Reminders for week 38:
Monday-Gym
Wednesday-School Photos
Friday-No Gym
- old sheets--whites, and warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows)
- large pieces of cardboard (old, broken moving box, etc)
- colorful magazines
- facepaint that you want to get rid of.
Heads-up... On Friday, October 14, we will be going to the pool to take a Swimming Test. Is there possibly a Dad in the class who would like to follow along? Sewe is away that day. It's an all day outing.
Important Reminders for week 40:
Monday-Gym,
Monday- All School Staff Meeting, pick-up your child by 16:00.
Friday-Gym
P.S. Thank you for the delicious dinner! Sewe, Margareta and I had a wonderful time. I think that the Parent-Dinner is one of the high points of the year.
Week 42
This has been a crazy and eventful week. All our routines were thrown out the window on Monday and Tuesday so that we could prepare for our carnival down the street. It was a great success. Several newspapers were there, and I know that the event is being published in the next "Vi i Vasastan", so try to get your hands on a copy. At one point, one of the children said to me as we were walking along, "This feels more like a protest than a lesson!" Another said, "Look at all the people stopping and looking at us. I hope they are thinking about the environment too."
Our routines also went out the window on Friday when we had an outing to Sundbyberg for our swimming tests. Everyone did a great job...and were so well behaved! Strangers acutally came up to Monica to say that they had never seen such a well-behaved class before. I felt very proud and I hope you do too.
In English, we started to learn how to edit texts. We worked with the "red pen", also known as the "idea pen" to go back in our texts and add information, description, etc. Next week, we will add the "blue pen" where we double-check and correct punctuation, spelling, etc. Hopefully we will also get to the "green pen", also known as the "friend pen", where a friend reads through our work and gives us a wish and star. More information about wishes and stars will come in next weeks newsletter.
This week, we have also talked a lot about friendship, respect and showing friendship and respect through our actions. We are going to continue to work with this both in school and fritids. Because of our activites this week, we only managed to work with a little Math in Swedish. Therefore, next week, we will focus on Math, and have a bit of a Math theme week.
This has been a crazy and eventful week. All our routines were thrown out the window on Monday and Tuesday so that we could prepare for our carnival down the street. It was a great success. Several newspapers were there, and I know that the event is being published in the next "Vi i Vasastan", so try to get your hands on a copy. At one point, one of the children said to me as we were walking along, "This feels more like a protest than a lesson!" Another said, "Look at all the people stopping and looking at us. I hope they are thinking about the environment too."
Our routines also went out the window on Friday when we had an outing to Sundbyberg for our swimming tests. Everyone did a great job...and were so well behaved! Strangers acutally came up to Monica to say that they had never seen such a well-behaved class before. I felt very proud and I hope you do too.
In English, we started to learn how to edit texts. We worked with the "red pen", also known as the "idea pen" to go back in our texts and add information, description, etc. Next week, we will add the "blue pen" where we double-check and correct punctuation, spelling, etc. Hopefully we will also get to the "green pen", also known as the "friend pen", where a friend reads through our work and gives us a wish and star. More information about wishes and stars will come in next weeks newsletter.
This week, we have also talked a lot about friendship, respect and showing friendship and respect through our actions. We are going to continue to work with this both in school and fritids. Because of our activites this week, we only managed to work with a little Math in Swedish. Therefore, next week, we will focus on Math, and have a bit of a Math theme week.
Week 43
This week we have had extra Math lessons since last week we missed lessons due to Carnival and swimming. We worked particularly with our Autobot Unit and applying this knowledge to adding bigger numbers through partitioning and place value. We even played some Math games. In Geography we discussed the colors in the Atlas. We are winding down our Map Unit and will start accessing the children on what they learned next week. This also goes for our "Our School in Siberia" Unit. We have learned how to edit our texts using red pen (adding ideas), blue pen (correcting spelling and punctuation), and green pen (a friend looks at our work and gives us positive feedback and suggestions to make the text better). Some of the children are on black pen, the final pen, to write the final draft. This kind of process writing takes time, but is well worth the effort. The result isn't perfect, but the students start reflecting over their own, and others, writing and can see their own progress.
This week we have had extra Math lessons since last week we missed lessons due to Carnival and swimming. We worked particularly with our Autobot Unit and applying this knowledge to adding bigger numbers through partitioning and place value. We even played some Math games. In Geography we discussed the colors in the Atlas. We are winding down our Map Unit and will start accessing the children on what they learned next week. This also goes for our "Our School in Siberia" Unit. We have learned how to edit our texts using red pen (adding ideas), blue pen (correcting spelling and punctuation), and green pen (a friend looks at our work and gives us positive feedback and suggestions to make the text better). Some of the children are on black pen, the final pen, to write the final draft. This kind of process writing takes time, but is well worth the effort. The result isn't perfect, but the students start reflecting over their own, and others, writing and can see their own progress.
Next Monday we celebrate UN day, and will talk extra about The Convention on the Rights of the Child throughout the week. Next Friday we celebrate Halloween. The children can come dressed up. We ask that the children don't come as soldiers bearing weapons, or bring weapons at all. Masks are allowed, but won't be allowed to be worn during the breaks since it can frighten some of the younger children in school. The children are allowed to bring 20 kronors worth of sweets. Please remember not to bring anything that could have traces of nuts in it! We have VERY allergic kids at school, and even in the second grade, this year. Homework this week also reflects Halloween. I thought that we could take a break from our investigations so that we could have some Halloween Fun. I've sent hard copies home.
The class met their new teacher on Wednesday. Her name is Nancy and she will be starting first thing in January. I don't want to give away all the details about her since I think that it is important that she present herself. She will be coming in a few times before Christmas so that she can get to know the class and we can work out a good transition between us teachers.
Reminders for Next Week
Monday/Friday- Gym
Tuesday- School Staff Meeting. Pick-up by 16:00
Friday- Halloween